The habitat of certain fish includes bodies of water that are populated with weeds or other growth. When fishing, using one or more fish hooks, a fish hook can become entangled in the weeds. This makes it difficult to catch fish or move the hook through the weeds. The fish hook can be so entangled that the fishing line breaks or must be broken in order to retrieve the fishing line, which results in a loss of the fish hook and part of the fishing line.
The problem of encountering weeds during fishing has been addressed in a number of patents. Numerous solutions have been advanced over the years. It is known to connect a weed guard to the fish hook or hooks for the purpose of preventing the fish hook from being caught in the weeds found, for example, in lakes or ponds. The weed guard is also movable so that, when a fish strikes, the weed guard is moved relative to the fish hook or hooks. Once moved out of the way, one or more of the fish hooks become embedded in the fish.
Although the prior art has generally satisfied these two main objectives in connection with employing a weed guard, it would nevertheless be advantageous to provide a combination fish hook and weed guard device that better meets all desired features associated with such a fishing assembly.